Even as school districts are starting their years earlier, Labor Day is still considered the traditional final big weekend of the summer.

And it is also one of the busiest weekends of the year in motorsports, and South Texas Speedway has decided to join the party — so to speak.

The quarter-mile dirt track located on Old Brownsville Road on the Southwest side of Corpus Christi will host a two-day racing event, the AOC Auto Parts/Arnold Oil Company ASCS Gulf South Sprint Car Showdown. It will feature a visit from the American Sprint Car Series Gulf South Region.

WHEN IS IT AND HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

The event is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday with the gates opening at 6 p.m. each night and racing scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

General admission ticket prices are $20 for adults, $15 for military, and children 10 and under are free. Fans can also purchase a two-day ticket for $35.

Jackson Motorplex is preparing to host the 40th annual AGCO Jackson Nationals, one of the highest-paying sprint car races in the country.(Photo: Submitted)

WHAT IS A SPRINT CAR?

Sprint Cars are purpose-built race cars that have no fenders or doors, and are light and powerful.

The American Sprint Cars Series sanctions national and regional events from California to Pennsylvania. The cars feature engines that can generate more than 750 horsepower and will reach speeds of more than 100 mph at South Texas Speedway. They also have a wing on top for greater downforce and speed.

The ASCS Gulf South Region sanctions events in Southeast Texas and has run races in Louisiana and Mississippi.

NASCAR stars such as Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon began their racing careers in Sprint Cars, and current stars such as Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell race Sprint Cars on their off weekends.

Ray Allen Kulhanek — who is from Danbury, a town just north of Angleton — won last year’s race at South Texas Speedway. Channin Tankersley — from Highlands, a suburb of Houston — leads the 2018 series standings.

Parents work on their kids' go-karts following the first qualifying race at South Texas Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017.(Photo: Courtney/Sacco-Caller-Times)

OTHER CLASSES PARTICIPATING

Along with Sprint Cars, the track will host the stock car classes that run at the track on a weekly basis such as Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, E-Mods, Limited Late Models and Limited Modifieds. There will also be various go-kart classes for children.

Drivers from across the Coastal Bend compete in the classes on a weekly basis for points and prize money in a bi-weekly schedule that runs from March through October.

RACING FORMAT

If you are venturing to the track for the first time, the program features a session of hot laps or warm ups for each division racing that night, followed by qualifying heat races. The heat races determine the starting order for each main event.

The main events for each division can range in distance from 15 to 25 laps. The winner of Saturday’s Sprint Car main event will receive a $2,000 winner’s share of the purse and Sunday the winner will pocket $3,000.

And after the races are complete, the pit area is open for fans to come and meet the drivers, look at the cars and get autographs.